Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Jun 1980
Complications of airway intrusion in 100 consecutive cases in a pediatric ICU.
One-hundred consecutive patients who underwent orotracheal intubation (OT), nasotracheal intubation (NT), or tracheostomy in the pediatric ICU were evaluated for complications of these airway invasions. Twelve patients had major complications as a result of airway intervention. The mortality for patients requiring mechanical ventilation was 17% as compared with a total overall mortality of 8.3% for patients in the pediatric ICU. ⋯ Laryngotracheobronchitis (croup) was the primary diagnosis associated with the highest rate of complications. An association was found between the occurrence of seizures or hypoperfusion state (shock) while intubated and the occurrence of major complications of airway intrusion. Acquired infections of the respiratory tract with Hemophilus influenzae, Pseudomonas, Klebsiella, and Candida albicans were also associated with a high rate of complications.
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Critical care medicine · Jun 1980
Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical TrialContinuous transcutaneous oxygen monitoring in the critically ill neonate. A controlled clinical trial.
Ten neonates with respiratory distress requiring mechanical ventilation and supplemental oxygen were studied during a continuous 24-h period to determine the value of continuous transcutaneous oxygen (PtcO2) monitoring. All 10 infants were continuously monitored during the study with a Clark-type skin electrode (Litton) and 5 of the 10 also had a catheter-tip oxygen electrode in place in the umbilical artery to measure umbilical artery O2 (PuaO2). The results of these two forms of monitoring were not available for the care of the infant during the study period. ⋯ Correlation between PaO2 and PtcO2 values (r = 0.93) was greater than the correlation between PaO2 and PuaO2 (r = 0.81). PtcO2 = 19.7 +/- 0.74 X PuaO2, and the correlation coefficient between PtcO2 and PuaO2 was 0.64. Continuous oxygen monitoring revealed significantly longer periods of hypoxia than that observed from blood gas estimations alone and its use in the low birth weight infant should result in more rational ventilatory therapy and in fewer episodes of hypoxia.